Voices from the boundary line: the Australian Football League's Indigenous Team of the Century

Abstract

By engaging with all the members of the Australian Football League's (AFL) Indigenous Team of the Century named in August 2005, I provide an overview of Indigenous participation in Australian football, sport and Australian society in general. These players have been interviewed for an oral history project undertaken by the author. I discuss some of the specific themes and issues that Indigenous footballers have had to face and overcome, and the progress that the AFL has made in bringing Indigenous Australians into a mainstream consciousness. Further, I illustrate and demonstrate that, through Australian football, the marginalized history of Indigenous people can be told, understood and appreciated.